Theoretical-experimental study of silicon carbide grinding

The application of hard and brittle materials, commonly exhibited by materials that are produced by burning of minerals at high pressure, has attracted attention with the goal of heightened performance. Traditional grinding generates large cracks and damages surfaces. However, we anticipated that when using a high-precision controlled micro-grinding machine, the improved process of material removal will reduce the surface roughness enhance the surface of brittle materials via increased plastic deformation (ductility). In this experiment, a unique sloped bracket was created to obtain a set of comparison results in one grinding process. Analyses of surface morphology, including scanning electron microscope images of sub-surface side cross-sections are shown in this paper. The results show the importance of keeping the depth of cut as small as possible in order to prevent sub-surface damage.